CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Schools are back in session, Labor Day weekend is within reach and pumpkin spice everything is making a comeback – all signs that point to the end of summer.

But if you are looking for some last-minute fun, here are a few amusement and theme parks located close to Charleston, South Carolina that you can visit over a long weekend.

Travel up the South Carolina coast for your closest option for a fun rollercoaster ride. Family Kingdom Amusement Park is located on Ocean Boulevard and 3rd Avenue South in Myrtle Beach. It offers a classic wooden rollercoaster called the ‘ Swamp Fox,’ and you’ll find a nice variety of thrill, family, and kid rides along with classic park food and games.

Funplex Myrtle Beach opened last spring on North Ocean Boulevard. While admission to the park is free, you will have to pay for the individual rides and games, or you can purchase ride wristbands.

The park features seven rides, plus food and carnival games. Both parks are approximately two hours away from Mount Pleasant.

Your best bet for the biggest thrills is an approximately three-hour drive from Charleston to the North Carolina / South Carolina border, just south of Charlotte. Carowinds has entertained visitors in the Carolinas since the early 70s and features myriad rollercoaster, thrill, family and kid rides.

The park has been working on refurbishment projects over the past several years, with the most recent announced earlier this month – the park will bring new rides, attractions and entertainment to help celebrate 50 years in 2023. And, if you can’t make it before the end of summer, the park will feature scary fun during Scarowinds this fall.

Travel a little over five hours from Mount Pleasant to Valdosta, Georgia and you’ll find Wild Adventures Theme Park. The amusement park in southern Georgia offers several fun rides like the Boomerang rollercoaster or cool down with the Tasmanian River Rapids.

Slow things down and explore some of the animals housed at the park. You’ll find goats, gators, alpaca, bears, and more on-site. You can even come eye-to-eye with the world’s tallest mammal during a giraffe feeding. The park also offers plenty of shows and dining options.

About equal distance sits Six Flags Over Georgia. The popular theme park is located just off I-20 outside of Atlanta featuring dozens of rides and experiences. The park is not open every day, so be sure to check its calendar before making the trip. Six Flags Over Georgia will kick off its Halloween park event, Fright Fest, on September 17 or enjoy its Brews and Bites Festival running August 27 through September 5.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The overhead sound of an American Airline’s jet flying onto the runway at Charleston International Airport (CHS) is an even more common sound these days.

As the air travel industry makes a comeback from a Covid slowdown, passenger numbers at some airports, especially Charleston International, are breaking records.

“We’re on pace to do about 5.1 million passengers this year. Our previous record was 4.7 million back in 2019.” Numbers being touted by the Charleston County Aviation Authority Executive Director and CEO, Elliott Summey.

Even a flier who takes to the air around three times a year out of the airport noticed, “it seems a lot busier lately.”

Summey says the Aviation Authority has been very busy recruiting new airlines in and expanding service with current “legacy” providers.

“We’re flying to 60 different cities direct,” notes Summey, as opposed to 20 just a few years ago.

Summey says passenger rates are breaking records now month to month. And expanding the check-in system with the TSA is a priority.

“As we acknowledge the fact that we’ve grown that much this year and we’re going to continue to grow, the Aviation Authority is investing in a seventh lane here in TSA,” says Summey.

That additional lane will cost around $2 million and add on higher technology than what’s already in place for safety.

However, the current equipment used by the TSA is still doing a good job filtering out dangerous materials before they make it onboard a flight.

This year, TSA regional spokesman Mark Howell says 17 firearms were found in luggage being brought to the TSA’s checkpoint at CHS.

That’s about on pace with last year’s numbers, but nationwide, the percentage is higher.

That’s not the proper way for firearms to travel. They should never be carried into the TSA checkpoint zone, per Howell.

Howell says anyone flying with firearms must declare them at airline’s front counter. They must be properly stored in a carrying case and emptied of any ammunition. Ammunition can be brought along but must be separate from the firearm.

Howell also says, “In addition to those 17 at the checkpoint, we have seen a number of them packed improperly for checked luggage.”

Even for folks not traveling with firearms, airport officials suggest to always double check what is going into your luggage beforehand.

And one other note as Charleston International Airport continues growing- the TSA says they have several job opportunities.

Those can be accessed by going to JOBS.TSA.GOV.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — How long would you wait for that the right new sofa or kitchen table? Some customers of a North Charleston furniture store say they’ve been waiting for two years now and claim they’re getting the runaround.

ABC News 4 received multiple reports directly to our newsroom of this, and one we found was Goose Creek mother and daughter Brittany and Shelby Fox.

“We're gonna tell the story start to finish, and you know, just cut out the nonsense,” Brittany Fox said.

On January 15, 2021, the Foxes bought a new dresser online from Home Décor Outlets from its North Charleston location. But the process of getting the furniture to their doorstep took longer than they expected.

“They told me after the first [of February] that it would get delivered. It never came,” Shelby said. “There was one contact where they said something about there was going to be a delay with the dresser could be up to six months.”

So, the mother and daughter waited. And waited.

“I have to chase them,” Shelby said. Then waited some more.

“It was just dead silence from there,” Brittany said.

Now, almost two years later – they still have nothing. They said there was one constant throughout the process: “The runaround was consistent.”

No furniture or money received by the family. Besides the receipt they have from their purchase, the only thing they say they actually got from Home Décor Outlets: Ads.

“[They were] trying to sell me a mattress,” Shelby said. “Yeah, spamming my phone pretty much. But never offering money back.”

As the time went by and the furniture had yet to arrive, the Foxes turned positions and tried to get their money back. Only to find out: “They could not refund my debit card.”

The Foxes say the company told them they had a no-refund policy and the only possible way to get one was to fill out a form and apply, where the refund would only be granted under certain occasions. The whole concept was something that confused the Foxes.

“We never even got a product at this point. It's not even a refund, it's a cancellation,” Brittany Fox said.

So I tried to get in touch with the company. I called the executive board, the phone numbers listed at their corporate websites and the phone number for the North Charleston store location. But all the phone numbers either went straight to voicemail or to dial tone alerting the phone had been disconnected.

After more than an hour, I gave up calling, got in the car and took a trip to the North Charleston store location.

It was the same thing customers like Brittany and Shelby Fox did after having their attempts at communication fall through. But much like the Foxes, when I arrived, I realized there were going to be no answers.

The store was closed with no furniture. Instead, just the remnants of a business.

So why was this the case? I did some digging and found the company had its Better Business Bureau accreditation revoked in January of 2022 for not responding to claims like the Foxes' and others that came in to government offices.

“We had eight complaints over the course of the last six years,” said Bailey Parker, Communications Director for the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs. “I'd say the majority of them came in from 2020 to 2022.”

But even the SC Department of Consumer Affairs had a problem contacting Home Décor Outlets.

“They were not getting back to us on a number of these complaints and didn't ever respond to the initial point of contact from us.”

After some more digging, we found out in February of 2022, the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Furthermore, just days after the interview with the Foxes, they received a letter from Georgia’s bankruptcy court suggesting the Home Décor Outlets convert from chapter 11 to chapter 7 bankruptcy. It would mean the company would have to close all their stores and liquidate their assets.

However, the documents still give no timetable on when these claims will be resolved and if any money is guaranteed to these customers.

“Consumers are most likely not going to be the ones that get paid back. First, it's going to be the other major creditors that they probably owe debt to,” Parker said.

We also learned from the Georgia Court of Bankruptcy, the company received loans through Covid relief, which they are required to pay 20 percent back, as well as general business loans, and they have missed 15 out of 19 payments -- not a good sign for customers.

“At the end of the day, if they don't have money, they don't have anything left, they can't pay,” Parker said.

So what are these customers options at this point?

“The only options that a consumer would have is taking the business to magistrates court, which in my opinion, is not a great option,” Parker said.

The money spent on attorneys for magistrate court could be larger than the money lost in some of these claims. Parker does say waiting to see the results of the bankruptcy court might be the best option.

Meanwhile, the Foxes ended up finding a suitable replacement dresser elsewhere. But still, after going through this whole experience, they left one piece of advice for any consumers in the state.

“Don’t just check the reviews on the product, check the reviews on the business.”

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WIS) - So many people know the feeling of sliding on your first pair of glasses and finally being able to see a lot more clearly.

A new law is designed to bring that special moment to more children across South Carolina.

The legislation allows mobile optometry clinics to visit Title 1 schools, offering free screenings and eye exams and fitting and providing students with glasses, with parental consent.

“This will see that our children across the state — and I hope this spreads like wildfire — that they all are able to reach their full potential,” Gov. Henry McMaster said.

McMaster officially signed the new law earlier this year, but he commemorated it Wednesday at North Charleston Elementary School, where he was joined by other elected officials, Charleston County School District leaders and students, and representatives from the national nonprofit Vision to Learn.

The organization lobbied South Carolina’s legislature for the change in law, as its previous language had prohibited Vision to Learn from operating free mobile optometry clinics in South Carolina as it does in other states.

The General Assembly allowed Vision to Learn to operate on a trial basis over the last year before approving the permanent change in law. In that year, the nonprofit reports it provided more than 2,000 students from 17 schools in the Charleston County School District with eye exams, and 1,700 of those kids received free eyeglasses.

“Our program has found that the best way to solve this problem is by bringing access to students right here on campus,” Vision to Learn National Director Damian Carroll said.

CCSD Director of Nursing Ellen Nitz said the new law removes barriers that may be keeping kids from reaching their full potential in the classroom.

“Many of our families will face either financial burdens, transportation issues, parents having to leave work to get to appointments, and then just not even realizing that you need glasses,” Nitz said.

During Wednesday’s event, four CCSD elementary school students received their first pair of glasses, including second grader Taila Sanders, who had selected frames in her favorite color, pink.

“Everything is like so different. It’s like not blurry anymore,” Sanders said.

With the change in law now in effect, Vision to Learn said its next goal is to bring this clinic to more districts across the state and help more South Carolina kids see.

“Our young students experienced unprecedented hardships during the recent pandemic, and now going forward, having access to quality eyecare and prescription glasses will not be one more thing that they or their parents have to worry about,” Rep. William Cogswell, R – Charleston, said.

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Energetic, humorous national poet Billy Collins will speak Thursday in North Charleston at the Bonds-Wilson campus that’s home to Academic Magnet High School and the Charleston County School of the Arts.

A free public poetry reading will be 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15 in the Rose Maree Myers Theater at the Charleston County School of the Arts. The reading is sponsored by Applause, the official student newspaper of the School of the Arts. Admission is free, but tickets are required. Seating is limited.

Collins, who served as U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, is down-to-earth and relatable for people who don’t often read poetry, said Mount Pleasant resident and longtime friend Marjory Wentworth, a former S.C. poet laureate.

“When you read one of his poems, you feel like you’re in the kitchen with him and he’s feeding his dog,” she said. “He has this capacity to celebrate the ordinary.”

Wentworth said audiences find his poetry readings to be very funny.

“He’s the kind of poet where you can go to his readings and not know anything about him, but be very entertained. But you’re also going to learn something about your humanity.”

Dr. Shannon Cook, the principal at School of the Arts, said the school community is honored to host Collins, who was invited by SOA English teacher John Cusatis.

“Our students have studied his work, interviewed him to gain a deeper understanding of his approach to poetry, and we have all fallen in love with the rich language and imagery that characterize his writing,” she told the City Paper.

According to a press release, Collins began garnering international attention in the late 1990s, largely due to appearances on various National Public Radio programs. His popularity soared during the next two decades, leading to comparisons with Robert Frost, the last poet to receive the blend of popular and critical acclaim that Collins has enjoyed. The New York Times has called him “the most popular poet in America.” Collins is famous for the affable, conversational tone of his poems, and the ease with which he allows readers to see the extraordinary in everyday experience.

Collins was poet laureate during the 9/11 attacks and composed the poem “The Names” for the occasion of the first anniversary. He has read his work at the White House on two occasions and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

His latest book Whale Day was a New York Times bestseller and his next book, Musical Tables, will be published in November by Random House.

Blue Bicycle Books will be on hand for a book signing after the reading. Copies of several of Collins’ books will be available for purchase as will Conversations with Billy Collins, a new collection of interviews conducted with the poet and edited by Cusatis.

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